SENIORS: HEADING OFF HATE AND FEAR

Seniors Stand for Respect and Peace

Yesterday on Just for Sunday, we recommended meditation as a means for bringing serenity to one’s life. The response suggests that it had appeal. Perhaps a return to the concepts and suggestions for engaging in meditation is a practice worthy of daily repetition.

The tragedy today is, however, that for the Sikh community in Wisconsin, who were on their way to meditation, found the presence of evil there ready to interrupt it. Guns again played a role. Little is immediately known about motive and a personal rationale for the attack. It was another of those episodes which steal from us the opportunity to create tranquility. Is there anywhere left to go? Are there any safe havens anymore?

Those who witnessed this horrible invasion of their need to have a spiritual moment may need a while to feel comfortable seeking out a moment like that again. Those who hate have a way of standing in our way. Those whose weird, mixed up world insists that they make it so for others do and at a heavy cost. The very purpose of the Sikh religious pursuit is to live a life of peace and example. How can this community be held responsible for the rise of another hate monger?

Of course, it can’t.

Honor Those Who Stand for Peace

Those of us who count ourselves among the peace loving are being pursued by those who have no peace in their minds and hearts. For some twisted reason they continue their assaults upon the very ones who believe peace of mind and spirit are essentials to living. How many must die before the message is heard? How many must give their lives so that peace can prevail? How many of all stripes must fall down with bloodied bodies to show that this is not the way?

Today, engage again in the pursuit of peaceful mind and spirit as you prepare for your day. Lift the memory of those who, once again, were in the way of a horrid hate that raised its enmity toward them. Listen for the sounds of peace in heart and soul and body as we attempt to demonstrate that the haters of the world cannot continue to intimidate and segregate love. Employ your own quiet moments as a means to head off the rise of fear and the presence of hate.